The Devil's Excrement

While I don’t want to rewrite stories you may have read about elsewhere, I can’t help but mention in detail the grotesque acts of lies and deceit staged by Chavez, Jesse Chacon and the Minister of Defense during the last two weeks. As Easter week had begun, the scandal dominating the news was clearly the fire at the military stockade of Fort Mara in Zulia state. There were basically two accusations, one that some of the soldiers were being punished for signing the recall petition against the President, the second one that the fire was set on purpose. Local press had given a lot of space to the story, while the Government ignored the case and attempted to hide from view those injured in the fire.

On Palm Sunday, April 4^th. President Chavez in his Sunday program said that the “oligarchic” press had made a big deal out of a little incident calling it a “little fire”, denying that it was set on purpose and calling the injuries “slight’. To make matters even worse, Chavez spoke with his usual all-knowing authority, saying “we are not covering up anything”. Even more remarkable, Chavez congratulated his Minister of Defense, who was present that day with him as he spoke, for withstanding all these unfair attacks on him and the military, calling it another attempt to destabilize the country.

No sooner had Chavez said these words, when the relatives of one of those injured challenged the President to personally visit Angel Pedreanez who had burns covering 52% of his body rejecting the President’s statement that they were slight injuries. The sister of the soldier called her brother condition “critical” while his father said that his son had been unconscious for the first 72 hours following the incident.

And it was all downhill from there for a Government accustomed to lying and mostly getting away with it.  On Monday, Orlando Jesus Bustamante one of the injured soldiers died of the burns he had received. His family charged that they were never able to talk to him after he was hospitalized and was moved to Caracas without their consent, something that the Minister of Defense clearly knew on Sunday as Chavez spoke, given the mobilization required to move the injured soldiers to Caracas. At the same time, it was revealed that two additional soldiers were severely burned.

After the news came out that day, Minister of Information Jesse Chacon resigned “irrevocably” for failing to provide the President with true information and once again accusing the press, which actually had revealed the details the Government was trying to hide and cover up, of presenting the facts in an irresponsible manner (!!).

By Tuesday, the Maracaibo fire department had presented its report saying that the fire had been provoked and not like Chavez had explained was due to a cigarette butt falling on a mattress. Even the representative of the Peoples’ Ombudsman in Maracaibo raised a number of issues about the fire, questioning the fact that the soldiers were not allowed out and are actually not allowed to smoke in the stockade.

To show even more how the Government was trying to cover up the incident, Doctors from the Maracaibo Hospital where the soldiers were first treated, said that the patients were moved against the opinion of the doctors. One Doctor said that she did not even think one of the patients should be moved from one floor to another for treatment.

By now, the Government began trying to spin events. On Sunday, Chavez asked for forgiveness for saying the injuries were slight, but clearly showed that Chacon’s resignation was simply a smokescreen by “not accepting it”. Thus, what was defended by Chavez’ supporters, like Tarek William Saab, as an ethical resignation became empty words with Chavez defense and reinstatement of Chacon.

While a lot of the news seemed to center on the Chacon resignation (or his purchase of a 140 thousand dollar (!!) painting by Venezuelan painter Armando Reveron), the truth is that the true grotesque aspects of the incident in my opinion seemed to have been missed. Here we have a Government where the President and two Ministers are lying through the nose. Not only were they doing this, but they were simultaneously trying to cover the events, by hiding the injured as well as minimizing what had happened, showing a total disregard for human rights and the law.

As if this were not enough, while the Zulia representative of the People’s Ombudsman acted promptly, the People’s Ombudsman has yet to make a statement on any of these events. Similarly, the Attorney General/Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez has actually said absolutely nothing about the whole affair, from the violations of human rights, through the lies and manipulations and the fact that evidence, such as the report by the Maracaibo fire department, has disappeared in the hands of the military.

Thus, one more story of this corrupt, unethical and insensitive administration is being written as we speak. One of the soldiers remains in critical condition as his relatives charge that they are being pressured by military intelligence not to say anything else to the press. Chavez supposedly invited the father to meet with him in Caracas, but the father simply said: “I do not trust the Government or the military” adding that the General in charge of Zulia state General Silva is a liar that is simply twisting the truth.

By now, the Chavez administration is not capable of deceiving too many people. As all of this was taking place Human Rights groups in Washington such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International were complaining to the Chavez administration for the lack of investigation into the charges of human rights violations. HRW even wrote a letter to Chavez asking for full and impartial investigations and saying that they had information they could trust that the tortures occurring during the February protests were not isolated or exceptional but the generalized behavior with apparent official approval. The letter even contained specific cases and accusations with names of those that were tortured. Thus, the same institution that used to defend Hugo Chavez two years ago, is now presenting a damning condemnation of the human rights violations by the Chavez Government.

Thus, just as two years have gone by and not one person has been jailed for the 19 deaths of April 11^th. the evidence against Hugo Chavez and his cronies continues to pile up. And as it does, everyone should remind the leading figures of this administration that crimes against humanity never prescribe.

It was indeed quiet in my absence. I managed to turn my brain mostly off from the conflicts here, but today things got back into action when the Electoral hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court reiterated its decision on the signatures deemed by the Electoral Board to be under observation, as well as reaffirming the fact that it has the jurisdiction to rule on electoral matters and has the same level as the Constitutional hall.

In its long sentence the Electoral Hall considers all of the requests and history of the case and decides to reiterate that its competence to consider the case and orders the CNE to i) Validate the signatures under observation ii) Include in the ratification process more than 39,000 forms which were excluded and iii) proceed to organize the ratification process. Finally the Electoral Hall, once again poses the problem of conflict of competence between itself and the Constitutional Hall.

From a legal point of view, the decision has to be followed by the CNE. Obviously, Chavez’ MVR rejected the decision and even threatened to initiate a trial against the President of the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court, but the decision stands until the full Court says the Electoral Hall has no competence or changes the decision.

For the Government the decision represents a big problem. The Electoral hall had encouraged the sides to negotiate which the Government and the CNE refused to do. But this time around, the Electoral Hall is ordering the CNE to hold the recall. The Hall could act if the CNE refuses to follow the order, creating a legal conflict that will show that the Chavez administration is not willing to follow the rules and will do anything to stop the recall vote.

While an important victory, for the opposition this represents only one more step in showing that the Chavez administration will not follow the Constitution and its is the opposition that has chosen the democratic path. A small victory, but one that leads to further conflicts and unmasking the true nature of Chavez and his cohorts.

It was indeed quiet in my absence. I managed to turn my brain mostly off from the conflicts here, but today things got back into action when the Electoral hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court reiterated its decision on the signatures deemed by the Electoral Board to be under observation, as well as reaffirming the fact that it has the jurisdiction to rule on electoral matters and has the same level as the Constitutional hall.

In its long sentence the Electoral Hall considers all of the requests and history of the case and decides to reiterate that its competence to consider the case and orders the CNE to i) Validate the signatures under observation ii) Include in the ratification process more than 39,000 forms which were excluded and iii) proceed to organize the ratification process. Finally the Electoral Hall, once again poses the problem of conflict of competence between itself and the Constitutional Hall.

From a legal point of view, the decision has to be followed by the CNE. Obviously, Chavez’ MVR rejected the decision and even threatened to initiate a trial against the President of the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court, but the decision stands until the full Court says the Electoral Hall has no competence or changes the decision.

For the Government the decision represents a big problem. The Electoral hall had encouraged the sides to negotiate which the Government and the CNE refused to do. But this time around, the Electoral Hall is ordering the CNE to hold the recall. The Hall could act if the CNE refuses to follow the order, creating a legal conflict that will show that the Chavez administration is not willing to follow the rules and will do anything to stop the recall vote.

While an important victory, for the opposition this represents only one more step in showing that the Chavez administration will not follow the Constitution and its is the opposition that has chosen the democratic path. A small victory, but one that leads to further conflicts and unmasking the true nature of Chavez and his cohorts.

According to Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner, Hugo Chavez’ popularity is down to 36%, mostly due to his efforts to block the possibility of a recall referendum. The poll says that 64% of those polled want the referendum to take place. Similarly, only 40% of Venezuelans now approve of the job being done by the Electoral Board.

Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner is one of the main pollsters used by the US Democratic party. They have been polling in Venezuela for about a year, financed by private groups.  

This is the good news, the good news/bad news is that next week is Easter week or Holy week here in Caracas. Everybody, including polticians from both sides will go on vacation and this time around I will go on vacation too. I have an Amazon care package of books ready as well as a chair reserved on a solitary beach. I will have Internet access, if something happens I will post remotely. Hope it is very quiet here.

According to Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner, Hugo Chavez’ popularity is down to 36%, mostly due to his efforts to block the possibility of a recall referendum. The poll says that 64% of those polled want the referendum to take place. Similarly, only 40% of Venezuelans now approve of the job being done by the Electoral Board.

Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner is one of the main pollsters used by the US Democratic party. They have been polling in Venezuela for about a year, financed by private groups.  

This is the good news, the good news/bad news is that next week is Easter week or Holy week here in Caracas. Everybody, including polticians from both sides will go on vacation and this time around I will go on vacation too. I have an Amazon care package of books ready as well as a chair reserved on a solitary beach. I will have Internet access, if something happens I will post remotely. Hope it is very quiet here.

Imagine this:

Some soldiers are in a cellblock, apparently via a cigarette butt; a mattress catches fire, and in the ensuing fire four soldiers suffer severe burns.

That is the official version…now; here is what the accusations are from family members, lawyers and human rights groups:

The soldiers had been punished with jail time because their sergeant discovered that they had actually signed the petition against President Hugo Chávez. The sergeant is being accused of spraying some sort of flammable liquid in the cell.

A Congressman from the Zulia legislature claims a forensic doctor that saw the soldiers told him it was impossible for the soldiers to be burned so badly accidentally. However General Wilfredo Silva (the same one that says Juan Carlos Zambrano was not tortured) said the soldiers were in the cell for an unspecified disciplinary sanction and they were smoking.

However the father of one of the soldiers, who is a fireman, says that the cell was burned on purpose, His wife says his son was the victim of constant psychological pressures.

Meanwhile, nobody knows where all the soldiers are… and the Vice-President says they did not sign.…but their lawyer says they did.

Today local daily El Universal had its Anniversary edition. Its main topic is the control that the Government has over institutions and how they came about. I recommend it, as it has many interviews with lawyers, economists and politicians some of which are quite enlightening.

Some highlights:

Former Comptroller Eduardo Roche Lander on corruption and the Comptroller’s office:

“Employees of the Comptroller’s Office are rotated each month, so that none of them can complete their work”

“In the whole period of the current comptroller, not once has he presented the reports required by law to the National Assembly”

“In that report he (The comptroller) exonerated all the Government workers who falsified bills, endorsed checks and managed in discretionary fashion public funds”

“The President violated the law in the case of the Macroeconomic stabilization fund (FIEM)”

“More than twelve military facilities were immersed in corruption in the Plan Bolivar 2000 project”

“The extraction of Bs. 2.2 trillion from the FIEM led a group of Venezuelans to sue against the president. Later an additional credit of Bs. 3 trillion to increase the fund was requested, the funds never arrived”

“Venezuela hands over 80 thousand barrels of oil a day to Cuba and the island does not pay a cent fro it”

“The discretionary policy applied at Banco Industrial de Venezuela, the People’s Bank and the women’s bank show the lack of control which weakens the credibility of institutions”

Former Head of the Electoral Council Carlos Delgado Chapellin:

On being part of the advisory council to the CNE: “We recommended that the CNE do not make up those absurd regulations for the recall petition”

“Once I realized that that the CNE was not impartial, that it was building all sorts of obstacles to the will of the electors, I withdrew from the Board”

“The CNE I presided had the peculiar characteristic that the Government would always lose the elections”

Former Head of the Economic Office of the National Assembly Francisco Rodriguez:

“The participation of the private sector gets worse, when the State, besides being a great importer, places products at prices even below production costs, forcing producers or distributors, or commerce to work without earnings, or at a loss. The intention of selling items cheaply should be praised, especially when they are essential items and low income people, but that takes out the space of sector which help to dynamize the economy.”

“What the Government wants is for international reserves to be handed over to it”

Lawyer Roman Duque Corredor:

“There are obvious cases of violations of human rights, not fulfilling public services, no security for citizens, and the People’s Ombudsman has not shown up suggesting possible solutions or denouncing responsibilities”

“During the events of February 27^th. and days afterwards, when there were evident violations of human rights, the Peoples’ Ombudsman disappeared”

On public services and the People’s Ombudsman:” He has not proposed the improvement of a single one. Has he been to the identification office? What does he do when a citizen is denied a passport or ID card because he signed the petition? Have they visited any jail, any hospital to see how they work?”

“He has done nothing when Deputy Luis Tazcon has a web page with the data of the petition. He has done nothing when the CNE says that citizens acted with bad faith when they signed the petition.”

Economist Gustavo Garcia:

“The Government is attacking the symptoms and not the causes, the structural reasons that generated capital outflows, like political instability, economic uncertainty and fiscal deficits financed via monetary means haven’t been solved at all”

“In the middle of a great recession inflation was 27%, but if you look at wholesale sale prices, inflation in them reflects 48%”

“The Government traps deposits with a tourniquet, devalues, generates inflation and then issues debt. What it is de facto doing, is expropriating the savings of depositors, you have an inflation rate of 30 to 40% and saving rates don’t reach 10%, you can’t buy dollars and the black market dollar increases in price.”

There is much more in this edition, quite interesting.

Today local daily El Universal had its Anniversary edition. Its main topic is the control that the Government has over institutions and how they came about. I recommend it, as it has many interviews with lawyers, economists and politicians some of which are quite enlightening.

Some highlights:

Former Comptroller Eduardo Roche Lander on corruption and the Comptroller’s office:

“Employees of the Comptroller’s Office are rotated each month, so that none of them can complete their work”

“In the whole period of the current comptroller, not once has he presented the reports required by law to the National Assembly”

“In that report he (The comptroller) exonerated all the Government workers who falsified bills, endorsed checks and managed in discretionary fashion public funds”

“The President violated the law in the case of the Macroeconomic stabilization fund (FIEM)”

“More than twelve military facilities were immersed in corruption in the Plan Bolivar 2000 project”

“The extraction of Bs. 2.2 trillion from the FIEM led a group of Venezuelans to sue against the president. Later an additional credit of Bs. 3 trillion to increase the fund was requested, the funds never arrived”

“Venezuela hands over 80 thousand barrels of oil a day to Cuba and the island does not pay a cent fro it”

“The discretionary policy applied at Banco Industrial de Venezuela, the People’s Bank and the women’s bank show the lack of control which weakens the credibility of institutions”

Former Head of the Electoral Council Carlos Delgado Chapellin:

On being part of the advisory council to the CNE: “We recommended that the CNE do not make up those absurd regulations for the recall petition”

“Once I realized that that the CNE was not impartial, that it was building all sorts of obstacles to the will of the electors, I withdrew from the Board”

“The CNE I presided had the peculiar characteristic that the Government would always lose the elections”

Former Head of the Economic Office of the National Assembly Francisco Rodriguez:

“The participation of the private sector gets worse, when the State, besides being a great importer, places products at prices even below production costs, forcing producers or distributors, or commerce to work without earnings, or at a loss. The intention of selling items cheaply should be praised, especially when they are essential items and low income people, but that takes out the space of sector which help to dynamize the economy.”

“What the Government wants is for international reserves to be handed over to it”

Lawyer Roman Duque Corredor:

“There are obvious cases of violations of human rights, not fulfilling public services, no security for citizens, and the People’s Ombudsman has not shown up suggesting possible solutions or denouncing responsibilities”

“During the events of February 27^th. and days afterwards, when there were evident violations of human rights, the Peoples’ Ombudsman disappeared”

On public services and the People’s Ombudsman:” He has not proposed the improvement of a single one. Has he been to the identification office? What does he do when a citizen is denied a passport or ID card because he signed the petition? Have they visited any jail, any hospital to see how they work?”

“He has done nothing when Deputy Luis Tazcon has a web page with the data of the petition. He has done nothing when the CNE says that citizens acted with bad faith when they signed the petition.”

Economist Gustavo Garcia:

“The Government is attacking the symptoms and not the causes, the structural reasons that generated capital outflows, like political instability, economic uncertainty and fiscal deficits financed via monetary means haven’t been solved at all”

“In the middle of a great recession inflation was 27%, but if you look at wholesale sale prices, inflation in them reflects 48%”

“The Government traps deposits with a tourniquet, devalues, generates inflation and then issues debt. What it is de facto doing, is expropriating the savings of depositors, you have an inflation rate of 30 to 40% and saving rates don’t reach 10%, you can’t buy dollars and the black market dollar increases in price.”

There is much more in this edition, quite interesting.

Venezuela is now so polarized that not even our poor judicial system has been immune to politics. Case in point is that of Baruta Mayor Henrique Capriles. The events of the last few weeks have gone something like this:

-Prosecutor Danilo Anderson the star prosecutor for all political cases in the Attorney General’s office, despite the fact that he is an environmental prosecutor, calls Baruta Mayor to testify, as a witness, about the events at the Cuban Embassy in April 2002 when Chavez was briefly overthrown. The prosecutor claims Capriles was later summoned twice as a suspect, but never showed up.

-The prosecutor, via the control Court #40, which is also the once that has been used for political cases, issues an arrest warrant for Capriles.

-Capriles goes into hiding, while his lawyers attempt to get a hold of the file to study the charges against Capriles, they are refused the case file repeatedly. Capriles never turns himself in.

-Two leaders from Primero Justicia, Capriles’ party, are kidnapped and tortured by unknown individuals. They say that during the three days of captivity, they were repeatedly asked to reveal Capriles’ whereabouts.

-Capriles’ lawyers go to the Penal Hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court. The case is assigned to Justice Alejandro Angulo. Angulo writes a decision reassigning the case to a different control Court but ratifying the arrest order. The decision is turned down by the other two judges of the Hall. The case is reassigned to Justice Blanca Marmol de Leon

-Judge Marmol de Leon, rules today, reassigning the case and suspending the arrest order. The Justice says Capriles had responded to all summons and states the arrest decision should not have proceeded. Moreover, says the Judge, Capriles could have been tried while free since, given his position as Mayor of Baruta, there was no flight risk as claimed by the court and the prosecutor.

-The Attorney General/Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez, who is sometimes extremely slow to speak out, defend the law or a give opinions, very quickly issues a press release saying that the procedure followed by the Penal Hall of the Supreme Court should not have been followed, because there were no irregularities to correct. He adds that the decision is based on false facts and there was no denial of due process by his Office.

Now, I am definitely not a lawyer to say whether on side is right or not on the detailed legal aspects of the procedures. However, there is something very sinister, in my opinion, about arguing that the Mayor is a flight risk, the fact that it is prosecutor Anderson that is doing the accusations, the fact that the Attorney General is so quick to criticize the Supreme Court on the case and the fact that Capriles’ lawyers have had no access to his case file. This is simply another case in which the opposition thinks Capriles arrest order is politically motivated, but the Government would argue it simply involves a guilty politician.

Neither the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) nor government representatives went today to the conciliation meeting called by the Electoral hall of the Supreme Court to attempt to resolve the problem with the signatures declared under observation by the CNE, but declared valid by the Electoral Hall.

The CNE legal counsel and former President of the national assembly both argued that the decision by the Electoral hall has no validity and that they will only obey whatever the Constitutional Hall says.

The opposition did attend the meeting and said that this shows the Government does not want any form of dialogue or negotiating. Ramon Jose Medina who requested the injunction from the Electoral Hall said that the latest decision by the Constitutional hall has no legal validity as it has yet to be published and the dissenting opinion is not known.

OAS and Carter Center representatives were not present due apparently to the fact that they are not in the country at this time.